The inaugural Woman's Half Marathon is a dream three years in the making for race director Mike Wattigny. Sunday's race is the first major running event exclusively for women in the Gulf South, and it consists of a half marathon, 10K road race and a (225)K fun run in Baton Rouge.

Wattigny said the omnipresence of social media helped galvanize the event, which starts at 7 a.m. on S. River Road in downtown Baton Rouge. Approximately 1,000 women have registered from 14 U.S. states including Hawaii, Washington and Illinois, and even one runner from Switzerland.

“It’s a major undertaking, but it’s 10 times as rewarding as the amount of effort it takes to put into it," Wattigny said. "We've taken on our most aggressive social media campaign of any event we've been associated with. Women tend to be a bit more engaged and interactive on social media."

Reaching runners through Facebook has been key, Wattigny said. Features they've introduced include "midweek motivation" and "weekend wisdom" messages to runners and "big reveals" of race surprises such as the long-sleeved shirt designs and unique finisher's medals.

Wattigny is thrilled that the number of "likes" on the Woman's Half Marathon page has increased from 83 to 5,000 since August.

"We've received just an overwhelming response," he said. "(Thursday) we put up the media backdrop and it has every runner’s name that pre-registered for the race. I feel like I've gotten to know a lot of runners before they even toed the line for the race."

Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge is the title sponsor for the race. President and CEO Teri Fontenot said the event speaks exactly to the mission of Woman's Hospital to protect the health of women and infants.

"By encouraging preventive health in women through exercise, we can play a role in helping reduce and, in some cases, eliminate a number of women’s health risks including obesity, cardiovascular problems, diabetes and more," Fontenot said. "We encourage women of all ages to make a conscious decision to take control of their bodies and improve their fitness levels."

A unique aspect of Sunday's race is runners can change their distance from the half marathon to the 10K during their run if they wish.

The course splits around mile 3 at Tiger Stadium. Women can continue through LSU and around the lakes to complete the half marathon or turn left on Nicholson Drive to opt for the 10K.